Chapter 2

With Nymphadora safely in Diagon Alley Alastor decided to go to the Ministry even though he'd been ordered to have the week off. He'd been working for three years without having a day off and was, in his bosses opinion, over worked. Alastor said cobblers to that but took the time off anyway to catch up on Nymphadora's progress reports. It was all he had been doing all week. During the time he had off she was either in combat class or filing paper work of the other over worked and underpaid aurors.

As soon as he walked into the office space Rufus Scrimgeour strode up to him looking most displeased.

"Alastor I told you to take the week off!" he snapped.

Alastor ignored the Head Auror and walked around him glaring at anyone who dared lift their heads from their desks. He passed one of the junior aurors who scrambled out of the way and ducked behind Dawlish. He made his way over to the filing cabinets at the back of the room and opened the one labelled with a 'T'. The file labelled Tonks was easy to find in the mostly empty draw. He flipped it open and looked for the page with the signatures on it. There. Scrimgeour himself had been the presiding Auror on the Tonks case.

He heard the man's foot steps close behind him and then a hand on his shoulder.

"What are you doing here, Alastor?" Scrimgeour asked.

Feeling his anger taking over Alastor turned round and shoved the excuse of a man into the filing cabinets and pinned him there. He heard a collective gasp behind him as the whole office stared at him. The thought that he may very well lose his job lazily drifted through his mind.

"Why didn't you tell her?" he demanded.

"Tell who what?" Scrimgeour choked out round the arm that was beginning to constrict his airway.

"Nymphadora." Alastor growled with menace. "Her parents were killed. You were there in her home conducting the investigation. Why didn't you tell her?"

"She knows?"

"Yes. You left the file lying around. That's how she found out. Picking up the pieces after you. When were you going to tell her, Rufus?"

"T-today."

"Not good enough!" Alastor roared in the man's face. "Now if you don't mind," he said calmly letting his boss go and straightened his own jacket out, "I'll be taking this home and will discuss what's going to happen with Nymphadora seeing as you aren't brave enough to do it yourself."

Alastor picked up the file and walked out of the office with every eye in the room following him.

The trip to the office didn't take more than twenty minutes but when he got home Alastor felt as if a while day had passed him by. He sat at the kitchen table just staring at the file. If it were anyone else he would have read the file and told them straight off what had happened. It was part of his job and he'd found that telling the blunt truth was the best. When he was talking to strangers. The prospect of telling Nymphadora… Suddenly the whole process was more painful for him too. It was one in the afternoon before he decided he'd cross that bridge when he came to it and began making himself some lunch.

Nymphadora's arrival was made obvious by the loud slam of the door. She angrily stomped through the house and into the kitchen. Before he could even ask what was wrong she asked if she could put someone in Azkaban.

"Who do you want to put in Azkaban, Nymphadora?" he asked hiding his amusement. Azkaban was a serious business and not one that should be taken lightly after all.

"Snape." She spat with venom.

That he could understand. There had been many occasions during the war that he was close to capturing the man and sending him to Azkaban but the slimy snake always managed to run away. Then of course he turned spy. He still didn't think well of him but Dumbledore was sure enough of his loyalty and so he'd satisfied himself with that. Even if he was still a greasy git.

"Did you… Did you take a file from the ministry?" she nervously asked.

"Yes." He shiftily replied.

She was going to find out sooner or later so why was he hesitating? It made no difference when she found out – the news was going to be the same.

"It's about your mum and dad. Take a look if you want."

There was perfect silence in the kitchen for a few long, heavy moments. Then Nymphadora reached across the tabled and pulled the file towards her. She looked at it for a moment and then opened it. Figuring that she'd want to be alone, Alastor retired to his study until she was ready to talk.

It was almost dinner time when she knocked on the door and sat herself down on a stool. This time Alastor stayed seated behind his desk and waited for Nymphadora to talk. She wasn't crying this time for which he was thankful but she was pale in the face and altogether too quiet. She didn't even have the energy to trip or knock anything over.

"It was a strong bombarda spell." She whispered. "They never saw it happen. Never stood a chance. It was over before they knew it had begun. And Rufus was there to over see it all." Anger coloured her voice and made her clench her shaking fists. "I saw him. Why didn't he tell me?" she shouted the last.

"Because he's a coward." Alastor quietly replied looking directly at his student.

"It says… It says that there's nothing left but I'd still like to go and see it." She looked back down at the floor a question she dare not speak on her lips. She wrung her fingers together and looked up to her mentor asking for help in voicing her question. Alastor looked back at her.

Tonks sighed and opened her mouth to speak but no sound came out. She cleared her throat and tried again. "Alastor… Would you… Would you come with me?" her eyes looked up at him hopefully.

Alastor found himself saying yes before he could stop himself to make it sound at least a little reluctant. He was Alastor Moody, the most famous, accomplished Dark Wizard catcher in history and here he was coddling a little girl. What was the world coming to if he gave into the puppy-dog-eye look?

"Can we err… Go now?"

In reply Alastor stood up and pulled his long coat from the back of his chair. From a draw in his desk he took out Nymphadora's wand which he had taken from her coat pocket the night before.

The small-town street still had aurors stationed in it when they arrived. A couple of them knew Tonks from Hogwarts and looked at her sympathetically but then quickly got back to doing whatever they had been doing before when Alastor glared at them for being too intrusive. Tonks didn't really notice them though. Her eyes were glued to the place where her home had been.

It was a detached house with a once pretty garden and welcoming windows. Now though all that was left was the back wall and the staircase. The rest of it had been reduced to rubble and ashes. The remaining features were soot stained. Completely black. Like her heart.

Suddenly a camera flashed and the annoying voice of Rita Skeeter piped up.

"Nymphadora Tonks, how are you dealing with the sudden, tragic death of your much beloved parents?"

Tonks gave her a flat look for a moment before ignoring her and taking a few steps into the garden. As she did so she heard Alastor growl something at the news reporter and guide her (none too gently) away from the house.

Tonks didn't understand why she was clearing away the rubble of her home for a while. She began putting all the debris in neat piles where the outer walls had once been and as she did so objects revealed themselves. A shoe, broken corner of a photo frame, a few pages of a book, parts of the radio. As she did it memories churned themselves up in her mind. Parties, dinners, rainy days in, sunny days out, winter evenings snuggled by the fire. Conversations had been had, arguments made and reconciliations reached. So much had happened in this house since her birth. The excitement of the Hogwarts letter, the sadness and apprehension as she left for her first ever term, coming home for Christmas and being engulfed in her dad's arms.

But there were sad things too. The death of her dad's parents, a time in which they had all become even closer than before. Illnesses were recovered from, bad news received and the overcome. There was just so much, so much that she had forgotten or not thought on for years.

Tears stained her cheeks but they came silently. Alastor mused that she looked pretty even when crying. She looked completely focused as she cleared away the ruins of her family home. He hoped she realised that this would help her heal. One of the Aurors had said that there were no bodies left. Without a funeral to be held this was the closest she was going to get. When everything had been cleared away she just stood still looking out of what was once the kitchen window.

Alastor entered the house and walked up behind her. The other Aurors had long since left on his order. This was a time for her to be alone. He stood silently with her just looking at the sun falling turning the thin clouds a peach colour.

"Mum always liked sun sets like these with peach clouds and blue sky." She sadly said. "Dad preferred them when the whole sky went red and the sun was huge and dark orange."

"Come on." Alastor said turning away from her. "We should be –"

"Alastor!" Nymphadora yelled and pushed him to the ground just as a curse shattered the window.

They stayed hunkered down until shards of glass stopped flying and then they both jumped up at the same time with their wands already drawn. A barrage of curses and hexes flew their way. Holding onto each other Alastor and Tonks made for the stairs which were being held up by a pile of bricks. Even as they hid there more spells were thrown at them.

"On the count of three." Alastor said.

Tonks nodded in response and leaned back on the stairs for a moment.

"One… Two… Three!"

They both jumped out from behind the stairs and together threw a barrage of spells into the garden. Tonks ducked back behind the stairs but Alastor, using the distraction to his full advantage, pointed his wand at a pile of bricks and sent them flying towards where the spells were coming from.

Then, out of no where, a spell hit him full in the face. He flew backwards a few feet and heavily fell to the floor.

"Alastor!" Tonks half yelled half screamed.

Blood covered his face and was beginning to pool on the floor. Without thinking much about her own safety Tonks exploded the staircase which created a lot of dust. Using the scant cover it provided she dived towards Alastor and as soon as she had a grip on him, she disapparated.

When she opened her eyes she was lying on the floor outside St. Mungo's. Not particularly caring what she looked like to the passers by she talked to the mannequins and gained entrance to the hospital dragging Alastor in behind her.

"Help!" she yelled in the otherwise quiet lobby.

As she was still in her auror in training kit from her lesson yesterday morning she had a few healing potions on her. She began applying them as she saw fit having passed the first aid section at the top of her class. Moments later she was joined by a doctor and a couple of nurses. They shoed her out of their way while they performed healing spells and applied a few more potions to Alastor's face. Then they put him on a stretcher and hover-carried him through the hospital all the while not saying a word to Tonks.

They went up a few floors and they settled him into a room and then began to leave.

"Hey!" Tonks demanded. "What happened to him?"

"We cannot tell you." The plain faced, male doctor said. "Relatives only."

"He has no relatives." Tonks snapped.

"Then I am afraid we cannot tell you."

"The hell you can't! I have to tell the Head Auror that one of his men has been injured and as Alastor's student you are obliged to tell me so that I can inform the ministry."

The doctor paled and quickly summoned the parchment that had taken the details of Alastor's injuries. Without asking Tonks snatched it out of the air and read what it said.

Multiple contusions on the face – will be scarred for life.
Permanently damaged nose.
Lost left eye.

For a moment Tonks was at a loss. Her mentor, the Alastor Moody, had been scarred for life, lost part of his nose and an eye all in one encounter. She looked at the man whose face was hidden behind bandages and creams. Gathering herself she duplicated the parchment and took the duplicate in hand.

"I'll be back in half an hour." She said to the doctor who had lingered by the door.

"Visiting hours will have –"

"I'll be back in half an hour." She said more sternly and glared at him, daring him to defy her once more.

"Very well. You may use the staff floo."

The office was almost deserted when she arrived. It was long passed closing time but there was movement in one of the desk cubicles. Hoping it was Scrimgeour Tonks walked over. It was.

"Wotcher, Rufus." She smiled.

The man jumped in his seat almost falling out of it.

"Nym… Nymphadora!" he spluttered. "About your parents –"

"Yes thank you so much for telling me, very kind of you." Sweet sarcasm dripped from every word, not unlike a certain potions professor who was most likely going to kill her if they ever crossed paths again. "Not what I'm here about. We went to visit my home and were attacked. Alastor's in hospital." She gave him the parchment and watched his eyes go wide.

"I'll assemble a team. You go back to sit with Moody."

Tonks turned on her heel.

"Tonks, you're back's bleeding."

"I was trying to ignore it." she said through gritted teeth. "I'm going to the hospital anyway, I'll get it sorted there."

"And your leg."

"I know." She growled in what she considered was a very Alastor Moody like way.

The ward was a riot of noise when she arrived back in the hospital. Alastor was shouting at the staff and the staff were shouting back at him to calm down. She made out the words 'where's Nymphadora?' and a few hurried replies which obviously hadn't satisfied him and his protective nature. She wryly smiled and then sucked in a breath when she put all her weight on her bad leg.

"Alastor Moody!" the doctor from before snapped making him stop shouting.

Although she was right outside the door Tonks waited to listen to what would happen now.

"Miss Tonks has gone to the ministry to inform your employer of your condition now if you would sit down, Mr Moody and quietly wait –"

"He wouldn't have been loud if you just told him where I was." Tonks said stepping into the room with a grimacing grin. She heavily sat on the other bed and sighed.

There were three nurses and the doctor in there all staring at her as if she'd grown another head. If they'd just told him? If he'd given them a chance to tell him more like!

"Why didn't you wait until you had been seen to, Nymphadora?" Alastor irritably growled. He stood up from his bed but was firmly pushed back onto it by the three nurses who were crowded around him.

The doctor moved over to Nymphadora who was on the verge of passing out. He quickly examined the wounds and pulled a bottle of dittany from his pocket and put some on the wounds which then instantly closed.

"You'll need to be careful for a few days but there will be no long lasting effects." He said. "Now, if you two don't mind," he said eyeing Alastor up, "I'll just go and finish my rounds. Miss Tonks there are some hospital issue pyjamas in the bathroom down the hall if you want them."

"Thanks." she smiled but instantly keeled over on the bed and was out like a light thanks to blood loss.

The doctor issued a round of blood replinishers and then left the room.

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